VOLLEYBALL: Oak Ridge tops Conroe in four to close regular season

Oak Ridge players react to a paly during the third set of a District 15-6A high school volleyball game at Oak Ridge High School, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Shenandoah.

Oak Ridge players react to a paly during the third set of a District 15-6A high school volleyball game at Oak Ridge High School, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Shenandoah.

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

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Oak Ridge players react to a paly during the third set of a District 15-6A high school volleyball game at Oak Ridge High School, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Shenandoah.

Oak Ridge players react to a paly during the third set of a District 15-6A high school volleyball game at Oak Ridge High School, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Shenandoah.

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

VOLLEYBALL: Oak Ridge tops Conroe in four to close regular season

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The playoff fate for both Conroe and visiting Oak Ridge was set before the first serve Tuesday night in Porter Gym, but that didn’t lower the energy level.

Oak Ridge, District 15-6A’s third seed, got a battle from Conroe, a team that missed the playoffs, and ultimately won 25-13, 25-16, 21-25, 25-9.

“I was looking for a little more than we showed,” Oak Ridge coach Rachel Croley said. “I wanted us to speed up the offense and come in being consistent. We’ve been working on limiting our errors and I feel like we had a ton of errors tonight - way more than we normally do. Conroe played awesome. They brought it and we just made a lot of errors.”

Conroe was a young team all season. The Tigerettes (13-32, 2-14) honored their three seniors Tuesday night and were able to take a set from one of the county’s top teams.

“Tremendous growth,” Conroe coach Charvette Brown said. “I think that’s what the plan was all season. When you have a team with eight sophomores, you know that’s a very young team and you’re going to have the growing pains and mistakes. They’ve definitely improved. This team has made leaps and bounds from August until now. That makes me proud.”

Oak Ridge (36-9, 11-5) used a couple quick runs early to pull away from Conroe in the first set. The third Lady War Eagle run, a 9-0 streak separated by a pair of Tigerette timeouts, gave Oak Ridge a commanding 18-5 lead.

Conroe showed fight late in the set with a trio of T’lisha Kennedy kills, but a Natalie Martin spike ended the opening set.

Martin led Oak Ridge’s offense with 10 kills, while also adding eight digs on defense. Kenzie Arent distributed 16 assists and added five digs, five aces and five kills. Ashlyn Cianciulli led the defense with 15 digs.

Kennedy was the kills leader for the match with 13 and also led the Tigerettes with 15 kills. Fellow sophomore Saege Anzueto was close behind with 14 digs.

“T’lisha Kennedy - bright future ahead for her - you’re going to be hearing her name a lot,” Brown said. “Saege Anzueto, our libero, is only a sophomore as well. It’s going to take some time, but by the time they’re seniors, we should be right in the pack.”

The Tigerettes’ energy from late in the first set carried into the second. After a 3-0 run to start the second set, the hosts found themselves ahead 9-4.

A kill from Oak Ridge’s Katie Mullen began a 10-0 run that saw the visitors erase a 5-point deficit and a create a 5-point lead. Maddie Hull’s kill ended the second set.

Conroe jumped out to a 9-4 lead again in the third set and was able to stick with the Lady War Eagles after the hot start.

In the set, there were eight ties and seven lead changes. The last lead change came when Amanda Rivera’s kill broke an 18-18 tie. The Tigerettes then added to the lead with a block from Kennedy.

In the last five points of the winning set, each Conroe senior contributed. Kennedye Ransom’s ace gave the hosts a 22-19 lead, Sophie Harrison’s kill made it 24-21 and Hannah Petty served what became the final point of the set.

“Anytime you have senior night, when they know it’s their last night, you get that extra emotional energy,” Brown said. “I think they just wanted it. This has been a tough season for us and to go out with a bang, that’s what they wanted.”

Harrison was strong all night for Conroe, with seven aces, 17 assists and nine digs.

Oak Ridge weathered an energized Conroe team early in the fourth set. The Lady War Eagles broke a 4-4 tie and soon after went on a 7-0 run to pull away.

A pair of non-returned serves ended the fourth set and match.

After the regular-season-ending win, Oak Ridge will turn its eyes to the postseason. The hope is that the new district - which featured five 2017 playoff teams and four regional semifinalists - will prepare the Lady War Eagles for the playoff competition.

“I think it’s really going to help everybody,” Croley said. “We really had a dogfight every night of district play. Even outside of the top four teams, there’s a lot of good talent in this district. Every team has at least one or two players that are strong, so it was really fun to go out there and compete every night.”